(The Sports Xchange) – Highlights of National Hockey League games on Sunday:
Jets 7, Penguins 1
Blake Wheeler scored a hat trick in less than five minutes of the first period and the Winnipeg Jets broke out to a five-goal lead in the first 20 minutes to hand the Pittsburgh Penguins a 7-1 defeat Sunday.
Matt Murray’s night ended just 18:07 into the game after he allowed four goals on nine shots, the last straw being a weak wrist shot from Joel Armia that slid its way through traffic and between Murray’s legs. The Penguins goaltender immediately looked up to the rafters in disbelief and Pittsburgh quickly tabbed rookie Casey DeSmith to make his NHL debut in relief.
For the home crowd, the story was Wheeler, who notched his second career hat trick — and first as a Jet — and it took a mere 4:20 to accomplish.
The Jets scored three times in the span of 34 seconds — two of them from Wheeler — to break the game wide open.
Ducks 4, Hurricanes 3 (SO)
Ryan Miller made 34 saves and seemed to get better as the game went on as Anaheim pulled out a shootout victory against Carolina.
Miller made nine saves in overtime and then stopped all three shootout attempts by the Hurricanes. He said he worked on defending breakaways as he recovered from a preseason injury that delayed his Ducks debut.
Corey Perry scored the lone goal in the shootout for Anaheim.
Flames 2, Capitals 1
Sean Monahan tapped in a feed from Johnny Gaudreau at 9:09 of the third period, leading Calgary past Washington.
Micheal Ferland also scored for the Flames, who snapped their four-game losing streak at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary goalie Mike Smith finished with 30 saves.
Jakub Vrana scored the lone goal of the game for the Capitals. Making just his fourth start of the season, Washington goalie Phillip Grubauer made 36 saves but saw his record fall to 0-3-1.
